The Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) Debaters brought honor and glory to both the Ateneo and the Philippines when they won a total of 98 medals at the Global Rounds of the World Scholar’s Cup (WSC) 2017 held last June 25 to July 1 in the Vietnamese National Convention Center in Hanoi, Vietnam. The AJHS Debaters did very well with 6 teams qualifying outright for the Tournament of Champions to be held in Yale University later this November.

A total of 98 medals (66 silver and 32 gold) were awarded to our AJHS Debaters contingent composed of 16 Grades 8-10 students from the Junior High School and seven Grade 11 students from Senior High School who were former AJHS Debaters. What is especially remarkable about the performance is that about 4,000 participants and over a thousand teams were competing. In addition to participating in all the World Scholars Cup academic events of Scholar's Challenge (a written exam on all subject areas of Science, Literature, History, Social Studies, Arts and Music, and a Special Area - Modern Mythologies), Scholar's Bowl (a quiz bee on all 6 subjects), On the spot Collaborative essay Writing, and 3 rounds of Team Debates, there were also team building events like the Scholars' Scavenge, social events like the Scholar's Ball, and cultural exchange activities like the Cultural Fair which gave the JHS students many chances to interact with students, coaches, and teachers from Australia to Zimbabwe over the weeklong academic contest.

Aside from the competitions, other highlights included traveling around the area and seeing the sites in Hanoi as well as paying a courtesy call to the Philippine Embassy in Hanoi after being invited along with some other Philippine teams by the Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Ambassador Noel Servigon.

All students participating in WSC are called “scholars” and are categorized into the Junior (below 15 years old) and Senior (15 years old and above) divisions. Since some AJHS teams’ compositions included students who were 15 or older, these teams were entered in the Senior division. As such, some of the younger AJHS Debaters had the additional challenge of facing students much older than them. Nevertheless, the AJHS Debaters excelled and still brought honor to both the Ateneo and the Philippines on an international stage.

While there were many excellent performances against top international competition, some of the highlights were:

*Simon Angoluan of JHS P10-ZUR brought home 9 medals including 8 silvers and 1 gold for being the top scholar of the AJHS Juniors Division

*Luis Amatong of JHS L10 – GER brought home 6 gold medals and was the top scholar of the AJHS Seniors Division. Luis was also ranked 119th out of 500 Champion Scholars and was ranked 37th and 39th in Challenge History and Challenge Literature, Seniors Division

*Shawn Tongson of JHS L10 GER brought home 8 medals, including 5 golds, and was ranked 68th and 78th in Challenge Literature and Challenge Science, Seniors Division, among his other awards

*Julian Bumagat of JHS M10 – MAN was the only Atenean to be awarded a Da Vinci Scholars medal and was ranked 15th among the Da Vinci Scholars who scored in the upper 30% of all 6 Challenge Subject Areas, Seniors Division

*The Juniors Division team of Rap Del Valle (JHS P9-SOU), Michael Ocampo (JHS P9-SPI), and AC Saulong (JHS P9-SIT) brought back 15 medals, including 10 golds, and finished 84th out of the top 300 (Scholar’s Bowl), 37th out of the top 300 (Team Debate), and 90th overall in the Juniors Division

*The Juniors Division team of Josh Caluya (M9 – LMN), Andrei Gelbolingo (L10-GLB), and Simon Angoluan finished 167 out of the top 300 teams for the Juniors Division Collaborative Writing

*The Seniors Division team of Gareth de Leon (C9-BNO), Shawn Tongson, and Yuan Ordenes (HUMSS 11-Hurtado) brought back 17 medals, including 9 golds, and finished as the 114th out of the top 250 in Scholar’s Bowl, the 96th out of the 250 Top Debate Teams, and the 108th overall in the Champion Team Countdown

*The Seniors Division team of Paco Blanco, Matthew Mercado (ABM 11-Bellarmine), and Carlos Pastoral (GA 11-Garnet) brought back 20 medals, including 6 golds, and finished as the 99th out of the top 250 Champion Writing Teams and was the 198th overall in the Champion Team Countdown

*The Seniors Division team of Raphael Estacio, Riane Oquiza (HUMSS 11-Mayer), & Javy Pineda (GA 11-Garnet ) brought back 17 medals (including 6 golds) and finished as the 59th out of the 250 Top Debate Teams, and the 149th overall in the Champion Team Countdown

*Rap Del Valle (278 th), Michael Ocampo (270 th), and Simon Angoluan (156th) were named to the list of the top 350 Champion Scholars of the Juniors Division out of almost a thousand participants

*Yuan Ordenes (391st), Shawn Tongson (263rd), Paco Blanco (253rd), Matthew Mercado (243rd), Riane Oquiza (190th), and Luis Amatong (119th) were named to the list of the top 500 Champion Scholars of the Seniors Division out of almost a thousand participants

The culmination of all the hard work and preparation was the announcement that a total of six teams had excelled in the Global Round and were now qualified to compete in the Tournament of Champions to be held in Yale University from November 9-14, 2017.

The students were accompanied during the trip by AJHS faculty member Ms. Mary Jill Janine S. de la Paz of the English Subject Area and by the parents: Mrs. de Leon, Mrs. Ocampo, Mrs. Del Valle, Mrs. Bejarin, Mrs. Tongson, Mrs. Caluya, Ms. Ordenes Cascolan, Atty. Abiera, Mr. Saulong, Mr. Garcia, Mr. and Mrs. Pastoral, and Mr. & Mrs. Mercado. In addition, Ms. de la Paz and parent Attorney Arthur Abiera served as adjudicators for the debates of both the Junior and Senior divisions.

The moderator of the AJHS Debaters is Mr. Joel Falgui and the students prepared for this competition with training from Mr. Falgui, AJHS Debaters coach Mr. Tres Yap, and AJHS Debaters alumni including Matti Tan, David Africa, and Matthew Mercado.

The AJHS Debaters wish to extend their thanks and gratitude to the ASHS and AJHS school administrators, Mrs. Arespacochaga, Mrs. Concepcion, Mr. Capinding, and Mr. Miranda, and most especially to Dr. Carmela C. Oracion, for the schools’ unwavering support in the teams’ many endeavors.

Thanks are also extended to Cebu Pacific Air which helped with the flights to and from Vietnam and to the Grade 8 Parents Council SY 16-17 of the AJHS Parents Union for School and Home (PUSH) which helped sponsor the AJHS Debaters.

What follows is a listing of the awards won by the AJHS Debaters. The numbers that follow the award are the ranking of the individual or the team.